Otto Dix's Corpse In Barbed Wire

The twentieth century was a strenuous yet a revolutionary time for humanity. Having two World Wars that ended in mayhem and drove a hole into the economy, there were also new political systems coming into play and many artists began to express their political opinion through every form of art known to man. For example, Wilfred Owen, in addition to being a solider in the World War One, he was also a famous poet. One of his most famous poems is “Dulce et Decorum Est” which was written specifically to describe the harsh reality of the war. Another form of art was Pablo Picasso’s painting “Guernica” which was also a response to politics. Wilfred Owen’s poem and Pablo Picasso’s painting were two very different forms of art that had similar responses to the historical and political events.

The very first things I notice in the painting are the subject’s eyes. Dix paints Dr. Heinrich’s eyes with a heavy, swamp-like impasto. The decision to make the eyes of Dr. Heinrich to look directly at the viewer combined with the heavy impasto used on the eyes fortifies the hypnotic effect that this painting holds. The use of the swampy green and grey colouration with a tinge of bloodshot pink in the eyes gives the painting a vile and uncomfortable aura. The colouration of the rest of the face is tinted with a sickening green; Dix’s decision to represent the doctor’s face in this colour

An artist's job is to interpret, and express the aspects of life in a creative fashion. War has played a big part in shaping our human history, and many artists have portrayed their feelings about art through paintings, and even monuments. Whether it be to show; the joy of victory, the sorrow of defeat, or to educate the public on the gory realities of war. Art about war can also show us a great amount of history of the kinds of weapons that were used at the time. It is necessary for artists to interpret, and criticize all aspects of life; even ones as tragic as war, It can make the public more aware of what goes on in times of war.

World War I was a war that shocked the world and brought about new emotions that created a large wave of “-isms” as well as the “lost generation” of writers. Modern art was catalyzed by World War I and without a thorough study of the various forms of art that resulted from it, modern art and the tremendous effect that World War I had on the people of the world cannot be fully understood. This historical investigation will cover a few aspects of the art that resulted from World War I so that a general idea of the emotions shared by the people of the world can be known. A few paintings that represent specific movements will be studied to understand the artistic movement. A number of museum exhibitions will be studied along with government websites, databases, and museum websites, especially from the Museum of Modern Art.

Anselm Kiefer was a German artist who was born directly after World War II. The art that Kiefer created focused on a reconciliation with the shame and horror surrounding the holocaust, aimed aimed to redefine what it meant to be German in a “post-Nazi World (Smith).” The piece I studied is located at the MoMa in San Francisco and is entitled “Shulamite”. “Shulamite” is a historical painting of a Nazi Memorial Site, which Kiefer created it in 1983. In this painting, Kiefer transformed the architecture of a site which was meant to honor Nazi heroes into a memorial for their victims. Kiefer uses some very interesting aesthetic techniques to reflect the intense emotions of that time and to reflect the rage, grief, and shame that Germans felt in response to the Holocaust. His intention was to reconcile with the country’s dark past through memorializing the persecuted while painting the country as no longer representative of it’s dark past.

Art by its nature is a subject of the philosophical, social, economic, political or religious context surrounding its creator. More often than not, a work of art addresses a specific topic or somewhat revolves around a particular person. Therefore, it is impossible to separate the context of a piece of painting, either historical or cultural, to its intrinsic value or the artwork's meaning. On the other hand, different cultures and time utilized specific conventions that govern the representation of objects of creativity. This essay highlights various pieces of art and their relationship to particular cultural, political, economic, or social settings. Moreover, it pinpoints how different times influence art presentation.

This paper will deal with the Perspective of War and how the certain aspects of war has forever changed the history and thought processes of civilizations worldwide. The paper will focus on the duty and action of war, the destruction and fear of war, and finally the memory of war.Investigating these ideas will give us a broader understand of how war has forever changed us as a society and how art is the perfect representation of this change.

This piece was created during a time of political and social change. Increased political awareness and a focus on celebrity demanded art that was more

How does this piece of art/artifact or its artist deepen the understanding of the culture, political, and historical time it was

In John Berger’s essay “Ways of Seeing,” he shares his view on how he feels art is seen. Mr. Berger explores how the views of people are original and how art is seen very differently. By comparing certain photographs, he goes on to let his Audience, which is represented as the academic, witness for themselves how art may come across as something specific and it can mean something completely different depending on who is studying the art. The author goes into details of why images were first used, how we used to analyze art vs how we do today, and the rarity of arts. He is able to effectively pass on his message by using the strategies of Rhetoric, which include Logos, Pathos, and Ethos.

Overall, the ideologies discussed within the articles Written In Blood: 20th Century Art by Stephanie Dudek and Estrangement As A Motif In Modern Painting by John Adkins Richardson address similarities and differences from various standpoints. Modernistic ideologies towards social, cultural and technological changes of the 20th century are demonstrated in both articles. The article by Stephanie Dudek emphasizes on the employment of radical and transgressive values by modern artists within their work to target cultural, and artistic principles that have persisted over many generations leading to a transformation within the subject of art (Dudek 105). Furthermore, modern art set out to obtain new visions of reality as witnessed within the Cubist

Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix, a known portraitist and realist artist in Germany in the 1920s and 30s, is known for his controversial artworks that focus on taboo subjects surrounding World War I and II. This period evoked a rise in portraiture and a decline in abstraction because “human beings, shattered by wartime experiences and filled with existential fear, suddenly seemed to be worthy subjects” (Rewald 3). When he returned from fighting in the war filled with anger, horror and disgust, Dix was inspired to follow this evolving theme in art in order to express his feelings, which is something he believed could not be done in painting landscape

Tremendous technological advance and tremendous slaughter leave an artistic waste land of atrocity, emasculation and pointing posters used to manipulate the public into recruiting men to join the military around the globe. Skilled illustrators in America, less inventive but artistic allegory’s in Canada and France and plain typography in Britain leave many artists busy with supporting the war effort. On the outskirts of war were a contingency of international peoples with little means and a negative view of European culture and war that chose to defect to Switzerland where they created the art movement known as Dada.

Images, such as paintings and photographs, are intensely visually striking and evoke strong emotions in those who view them.“Into the Jaws of Death” provides a perfect example of that intensity, having been taken by Robert F. Sargent during the early morning hours of the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Even today the famous photograph evokes strong emotional reactions in many people who view it. This photograph served a purpose more significant than was realized at the time, to the point of becoming a pivotal point in support for the war effort. How was this accomplished? By conveying personal themes of heroism, patriotism, and mortality through devices such as angles, colors, uniforms, and proxemics.

World War II was a war that was forever etched in history as a result of it destruction and overwhelming body count. But who would have thought that this war would have found a way to impact art before it’s time. Before Hitler rose to power, he used the civil war in Spain around 1936 as his personal field test. In response, arts took to their trade to cope with their frustration and express their opinions. Then as war was on the verge of beginning, Hitler stole modern art from Jewish artists and put them in his own show. His show was titled “Degenerate Art,” and it portrayed the artist as demented people who were a hindrance to society. He felt sane people were incapable of producing such abstract art. He went on to sponsor another